Words Unsaid
by AwesomePossumx
Summary: Rose gets shot in the leg and the Doctor goes a bit overboard with taking care of her. Rose confronts him and the Doctor is about to confess his feelings for her, but chaos strikes when she's abducted and taken to a faraway planet. What will the Doctor go through to find his Rose Tyler again and finally tell her the three little words she's been dying to hear? T for violence.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Hi guys! So I looked at the results from the poll on my profile and this prompt was voted for the most. This is a multi-chapter story based off of a prompt from a guest user by the name of XxMe96xX! The prompt was: "The Tenth Doctor and Rose are on an adventure, and Rose gets kidnapped right before the Doctor is about to tell her he loves her." I hope I fill this prompt well and remember, if you have a prompt for me (one-shot or multi-chapter), just leave it in a review or P.M. it to me and I'll most likely do it!

* * *

Gunshots were being fired, bodies were falling to the ground, and blood was falling from limbs, lips, and noses alike.

But the worst part of all of it was the fact that the Doctor had absolutely no idea where Rose Tyler was.

"Rose?!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, stepping over another body and searching frantically, head whipping back and forth as he looked for her bright pink shirt and unmissable yellow hair. Surely in the middle of the American Revolutionary War a bright pink shirk wouldn't be too hard to spot? Especially if an unarmed, beautiful girl in the midst of the battle was wearing it?

Darn. Why did he have to land in the middle of the war anyways? He had been aiming for Paris, and even for him, this was very far off.

There was always a possibility that he would find her among the corpses, of course, but he couldn't bring himself to search dead bodies for Rose Tyler. Because she wasn't dead, and she would never die while under his watch. That was just a ridiculous concept in general.

Suddenly, he spotted her, just out of the corner of his eye. A tear was running down her cheek as she stared down at a body, her entire figure trembling. Far behind her, where she could not see, stood a cadaverous man with a gun in hand, and it was no secret where he was aiming it. The Doctor bolted forward as fast as he could, paying no attention to where his feet were going and knowing only that he had seconds to make it to Rose. She seemed not to notice him so he called out for her, "Rose! Rose, duck!"

Her head whipped towards him and, at the same moment as a loud gunshot rang in their ears, the Doctor had tackled her to the ground and was holding her tight. "Aah!" A shrill scream escaped her lips and the Doctor looked down to see a bullet deep in her thigh. His eyes burned with rage and unshed tears as he stood up, facing the man who was still holding the gun.

The Doctor approached the soldier with the Oncoming Storm present in his eyes, took the gun from him with a few simple, swift martial arts moves, and whacked him in the side so he collapsed, coughing up blood. Afterwards his attention went back to Rose, who was writhing on the blood-covered ground near a few other bodies and moaning quietly in pain. He scooped her up in his arms and ran back to the TARDIS as fast as he could, plopping her down in the medical bay and getting ready to remove the bullet.

As he fixed up his tools and prepared for the surgery, Rose came back into consciousness. "Doctor?" she moaned quietly, reaching up her hand a little towards his blurry figure.

A wide, shaky smile grew on his face as he held her hand and stroked it. "Rose, thank Rassilon you're okay. Listen, I still need to get the bullet out of you, so I'm going to give you some drugs. Okay? You'll be fine..." He swallowed deeply, trying not to show just how worried he had been only moments ago and repeating, "You'll be fine."

Instead of replying she nodded a little bit and he dug a needle into her leg, causing her to drift into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.

The surgery was by the far the most difficult one he had ever done.

Running through his head over and over and over again was the fact that if he messed up she could die or get injured even further. Sure, it wasn't that complex of a surgery. After all, the bullet had barely skimmed her and would be fairly easy to get out of her. The sight of her limp body laying on the medical bed sure wasn't helping his negative thoughts, though. He tried to think of positive things, things like them seeing sights together and holding hands. As soon as he finished wrapping up her wound he found himself squeezing her hand in his and placing a gentle kiss to her forehead before he went to get tea for them.

The Doctor came back in a few minutes, not wanting to leave her side for too long. After sitting there awkwardly on her bed for a few minutes, swinging his legs and humming a tune, he decided he needed to do something to occupy his mind before he was begging Rose to wake up quicker to comfort him, which, frankly, sounded like a very good idea. Running from the medical bay to his room, he picked up a Gallifreyan book and sprinted back, sitting by her bed again and opening up the book which was the first one he had found on his nightstand. He read it aloud in his melodic language, not paying too much attention to the actual meaning of the words. Instead he was watching Rose's steady breathing and pronouncing every syllable of the book with precise diction, since he had read it at least twenty times before and knew the words by heart.

When her arm twitched a little while he was on page twenty-two, his heart beat quickly in his chest and he squeezed her hand, the book clattering to the floor from his grip. However, Rose just let out a little sigh and he could tell she was still in a deep sleep. The disappointment he felt was heavy as he picked up the book again, trying to decide how to get into a better position since, obviously, he would be here a while.

After one quick trip back to his room again, he had a blanket in hand and draped it over her and himself, laying down next to her and not making any body contact save for the hand-holding that he couldn't resist. He made her as comfortable as possible, and he had already moved her out of her uncomfortable clothes and coated her in pillows. He turned his attention back to the book and resumed reading aloud until his own loud yawn interrupted him.

"Rassilon, Rose, I'm tired," he mumbled to her even though she couldn't hear, shutting the book and yawning again. "Don't ever get shot again. Actually, it's my fault, I shouldn't have taken you to the American Revolutionary War. That was a mistake."

The Doctor glanced over at her as if expecting a 'yes, it was a mistake' or a 'you're an idiot' look.

"Never again," he promised himself. "Good night, Rose."

* * *

Rose woke up to a banging in her head and a toasty warm right hand.

She shook her messy hair out of her face, but the action caused her leg to move and searing pain shot through her. With caution to not move her leg, she looked over to her side and saw an extremely rare sight - the Doctor's sleeping face. From what she could see his mouth was open a little and he was snoring lightly, squeezing her hand a little in his sleep and she could've sworn she saw some drool on his chin.

"Doctor?" Rose muttered, nudging him in the side with her arm. "What happened?"

He released her hand and shot up immediately, disoriented at first until he saw her sad expression. A giant smile grew on his face and he started laughing, "Rose! You're awake! How are you feeling? Oh, here, you must need tea," the Doctor scrambled to the table nearby and handed her her cold tea from the previous night. "I'll make you new tea! How are you feeling? Did I ask that already? Is your leg in a lot of pain? Do you need headache medicine? What do you remember? How is..."

Rose gave him an amused smile, "Doctor, that's about five different questions. But yes, tea would be nice. And I'm feeling fine, though my leg does hurt. I- I got shot?"

The Doctor nodded sadly, "Yes, you did. Here, um, wait here for_ five_ seconds, I'll make tea. Just five seconds, I'll be back in a pip and give you medicine!"

She laughed as he sprinted out the door holding the cup with the cold tea, making it splash everywhere and all over him as he ran. He came back extremely quickly with new tea, sitting down next to her to help her drink it carefully, allowing her only a small sip. "Just a bit at a time," he explained.

"Thanks," she replied kindly, wincing a little when she tried to sit up more and her leg burned again. His expression turned sympathetic and concerned at her pain and she shook her head, "It's just my leg. I could use a little something for it, if you don't mind!"

He set the tea cup on the table and rushed to the medicine cabinet. "Of course! I'll make it all better, I promise. After all, they do call me the Doctor."

As he threw medicine up in the air and searched through the cupboard with his bum high in the air, Rose thought to herself, _I wonder why sometimes._

* * *

**A/N: **I'll get to the actual prompt next chapter, I promise. :P This was more of an introduction. Please review if you enjoyed!


	2. Chapter 2

Bed rest for three weeks straight was not Rose's ideal way of spending time with the Doctor. She had been allowed (eventually) to move into her own bedroom from the medical bay. He sat next to her daily, either reading or falling asleep or feeding her. She had insisted that she was fine after only a week, seeing as the bullet had barely skimmed her, but he insisted. So slowly Rose fell into a routine. While being pampered to no end by the Doctor wasn't bad in theory, the reality of it was awfully boring.

"I'm bored," she mumbled to him.

The Doctor curled up further into her side and one of his hands was on her stomach, absently tracing tiny circles. "Want me to read?"

Rose shook her head, "That's okay. I feel like I've heard all the Harry Potter books at least three times by now."

"Only twice," he insisted with a tiny wink. "Besides, they're good books. Want to watch a movie?"

She frowned, "I may have only heard Harry Potter twice but I've seen "The Lion King" at least twelve times. Actually, more like twelve thousand."

When he began to rock her body back and forth lightly with his she already knew what was coming, "Hakuna Matata!" he sang loudly with a grin, "It means forget all your troubles for the rest of your days!"

Rose rolled her eyes and pushed him lightly, "Can I stand up?"

His features instantly got hard and his body tensed, "I don't think that's a good idea."

"It has been three weeks, Doctor. You can't keep me in bed forever." Rose blushed at how suggestive that sounded but of course the Doctor didn't notice it.

"Three weeks isn't that long for a bullet wound, Rose. I don't want you getting hurt again, then you'd have to stay in bed even longer! Come on, want me to get you some tea? More blankets? Another Disney movie? Surely you've only seen Wall-E once or twice."

She contemplated this, "Wall-E? Is that the one about the robots all over Earth?"

His other hand which had been holding hers released her and began stroking her arm gently, "Mhmm. In fact, did you know Wall-E is based off of a real event? On the planet of Harpin, it's inhabited by humans, the trash got built up as tall as skyscrapers. But all the other planets who had an alliance with Harpin didn't help them because their atmosphere was too difficult to land in. So they built a big, big spaceship and shoved all the humans inside. Of course, Wall-E himself was made up, along with Eve..."

Rose chuckled, "There's no way that's true."

He bopped her nose, "Of course it is. I'll take you there after you're better. I promise. It's a very safe planet... Well, apart from the trash which I suppose could get you infected. On second thought, perhaps we should skip that."

"I don't know," she murmured, "the planet of the trash as tall as skyscrapers sounds very attractive."

"Really? Rose, that's disgusting!" he exclaimed, his eyebrows shooting up to his hairline.

"I'm joking, Doctor."

"Oh, right."

They sat in silence for a few minutes, the Doctor stroking her arm like a cat and putting her head on his chest.

"Since when does that matter, anyways?" Rose asked him quietly and unsurely, not wanting to scare him.

The Doctor frowned, "Since when does what matter?"

"You said 'it's a very safe planet'... Since when does it matter whether or not it's safe?"

To her despair, the Doctor's features drooped and he immediately stopped stroking her arm. Instead he began fiddling with his own fingers and avoiding her piercing gaze. "Well, Rose, you got shot."

"That was on Earth... I've never been hurt on any other planet."

"But I took you to the Revolutionary War, that's not a safe place or time on Earth. It was my fault that you got shot, and I don't want you to get hurt again so I don't want to take you anywhere dangerous. Fair enough?"

Rose shook her head, attempting to be cautious with what she should and shouldn't say, "It wasn't your fault that I got shot. It was my own. I was in a dumb spot and I shouldn't have wandered off. So don't worry about me with safe and dangerous planets, yeah? I can handle anything you throw at me, no matter how dangerous."

He winced at her last sentence and hopped out of the medical bed. "Just... Get some sleep..."

As he began walking towards the door her heart dropped, "No, Doctor, I didn't mean that last bit. It wasn't your fault, you didn't throw it at me. I'm sorry."

The door shut quietly and she could already feel tears coming to her eyes as she rested her head back on the pillow. She tried desperately to take his advice and fall asleep but couldn't, she was suddenly too filled with emotions and adrenaline to do anything except lay in the dark bedroom with her eyes staring up at the ceiling.

* * *

He leaned against the door breathing much heavier than he should've been, trying desperately to kick Rose's words out of his mind. Normally he was so good at that, deleting things from his thoughts and organizing them. He could choose how many things to think about at once and what he should think about. Rose had destroyed that ability the second he had taken her into his ship.

_So don't worry about me with safe and dangerous planets, yeah? I can handle anything you throw at me, no matter how dangerous._

The Doctor began walking towards his own bedroom. She hadn't meant it like that, that much was obvious. It was just a manner of bad wording. Bad communication. But that wound in her leg, him stitching it up, that was definitely no bad communication. How could he have allowed Rose to be shot in the first place? It was awful of him, how could he put the girl he loved in such danger?

He froze.

_The girl he loved?_

As he stood outside his room the TARDIS gently hummed in his mind. He glared at the walls of the ship, "I can't love her. I know I do, but I can't. So be quiet, will you?"

The ship hummed again, this time with a bit more attitude, and he opened the door to his room and pranced in, slamming the door shut behind him. The TARDIS groaned in pain. "Sorry old girl," he said more gently, "didn't mean to hurt you or upset you. I'm just angry at myself, ignore me. Rose is upset and there's nothing I can do about it."

At the ship's reply he groaned, "You seriously expect me to go back in there? After that? I can't do that! What if... I don't know how to talk to her about this! I can't just tell her I love her, it doesn't work like that. Okay, well, yes, I suppose it does. I'm not going and you can't make me."

He sat down on his bed in victory but it disappeared from underneath him, causing him to fall hard on his bum. "Ow!" he said in protest, looking around to see he was now outside Rose's bedroom. "I'm not going in there. Tomorrow morning I will, I promise!"

The TARDIS's wall that was across from Rose's door slowly began closing in on him, getting closer and closer to his face. Eventually the air started getting thinner and he frowned, "Two hearts!" But when the wall actually touched his nose he rolled his eyes and entered Rose's room, taking a large gasp of breath as soon as he was in there.

As soon as he was in the room he heard a sniffle and the shuffling of sheets. "Doctor?"

The Doctor rubbed his neck nervously before flicking on the light switch, causing her to cover her face with her hands. "Oh, sorry about that. Could you lower the lights please?"

The TARDIS made a noise of agreement and the lights dimmed so the two could just see each other without their eyes hurting. The Doctor awkwardly approached her bed and sat down on it, staring at Rose without saying anything. "Well?" Rose questioned, folding her arms across her chest.

The Doctor swore on both his hearts that he saw amusement in her eyes.

"Well what?" he replied.

"Aren't you going to say something? Or did you just come in here to sit on my bed and watch me sleep?" Rose said defiantly, her eyes twinkling up at his.

He blushed, "I didn't just want to watch you sleep and sit on your bed! I wouldn't do that! I never do that!" The look she was still giving him caused him to yelp, "I have never done that! I swear! Oh, are you joking again?"

She laughed, "Yes, I am, and you're very bad at picking up on sarcasm. Now, Doctor, why'd you come in here? There must be a reason."

"Um..." he glanced up at the walls and the lights flickered a little to encourage him to continue. "I did come here for a reason, actually... Listen, Rose, I have something I need to... Um... Tell you."

Rose stared up at the ceiling, "Does the TARDIS have to do with this?"

"Nope, not at all," the Time Lord lied while running a hand through his hair and ruffling it.

"You ruffle your hair when you lie," she pointed out.

"I do not." But he said no more on the subject. "I wanted to apologize for earlier... I know you didn't mean that in er, the way that I, uh, thought you meant it. You meant it in the way that you thought you meant it, of course! Well, that's why you said it. That's why most people say things is because they mean it in the way that they want it to mean... In the way... Er... I kind of lost track of what I was saying, to be honest."

"You?" Rose's face lit up, "You lost track of what you were saying? That's a rare sight."

"Oi! Okay, my point is, I..."

"I get it, Doctor. You're sorry. I'm sorry too, I shouldn't have said that even if I meant it in a different way than you received it. So apology accepted." Her arms stretched out for a hug which he gave her immediately, face filling up with joy at the sensation of his eyes being covered in blonde hair.

"I accept your apology, too."

She pulled away and yawned, "So was that it?"

"Was that what?"

"All you had to say to me?"

After a nervous glance up at the TARDIS ceiling he shook his head, "No, that's not all I had to say to you."

"Well spit it out in three words because if it's any longer than that I'll probably fall asleep on you," she said with a small laugh, leaning back onto the pillow.

He nodded and swallowed, resting his hand on hers and realizing he was sweating profusely. Three words. He could do that. Easy peasy. "I love you."

Rose's pink lips opened to form a perfect 'o' and to speak when a large crash came through the east wall of the bedroom, shattering Rose's shelf and picture frames to the ground. He heard two loud shouts and it took the Doctor a minute to realize one of the shouts was his own and the other was Rose's. Before he could see just what the object was that had broken through the TARDIS wall he was knocked unconscious by a hard object on his scalp.

* * *

**A/N:** And here we get to the actual prompt. :) I got a ton of Doctor Who stuff for Christmas, a bow tie, a calendar, posters, and more, it's all so amazing! :D Did any of you guys get anything good?


	3. Chapter 3

A cold, metal grating lay underneath him as the Doctor slowly came back into consciousness. His eyes fluttered open and he stared at the ceiling of its TARDIS. Second by second he took in the situation: flashing red lights, a loud alarm blaring, the cloister bell in full action, and worst of all no Rose with him. He stood up and a pain shot through his left leg, making him gasp and clutch at it with his hands, only making the pain worse.

"Rose?" he groaned as loudly as he could, limping over to the wall railing and walking towards the console room. "Rose? Where are you?"

The console room was completely shattered. Half of the entire room was missing, and black space dotted with stars and planets was easily visible. The console itself still stood strong, apart from a few missing pieces and broken levers and gears. The ceiling was cracked all the way across and the jump-seat near the console remained standing. He limped over to the console and glared at a screen, trying to see through blurry eyes.

"Space," he mumbled, "regular space... But what could crash into my TARDIS?" The Doctor's leg spasmed a little as it ached, about to collapse under him. "Where's Rose?" he asked the ship.

A hologram appeared in front of him in the form of Rose, wearing a pink headband and matching dress, her expression completely emotionless. "Hello, I am the TARDIS voice interface."

"Where's Rose?" he asked the fake Rose, squinting his eyes to see better and sitting down on the jump-seat. He sighed with the relief sitting on the seat brought his hurting body.

"Rose Tyler is currently gone."

The Doctor rolled his eyes, "I know she's gone! Gone where, gone how?! What crashed into us?"

"The TARDIS crashed into us," Rose said simply.

"We crashed into ourselves? Where is Rose?! Be more specific!" he demanded, standing up again and leaning on the rail for support before glaring at the hologram as if it would help.

"Rose Tyler is in the TARDIS that crashed into us. We did not crash into ourselves. Specifics say that Rose Marion Tyler, human, from the planet of Earth, is in the TARDIS that crashed into us."

"Not specific about who Rose is," the Doctor rubbed his eyes, "specific about the TARDIS that crashed into us. How is that possible? Is it a future or past version of me?"

"Neither."

"Specific?"

"The TARDIS that crashed into us does not belong to a future or past version of you. It also does not belong to the current version."

"THEN WHOSE TARDIS IS IT?!"

"The Master's."

The Doctor froze on the spot, his hearts beating hard in his chest as he let out a breathy sigh, running a hand through his hair. "The Master has Rose?"

"Affirmative."

He shut his eyes and squeezed them tightly shut, "Take me to the Master's TARDIS. Now. I want to see him."

"Location unknown," the hologram Rose said.

"Then repair yourself! Do it now! Heal me, repair yourself, and take me to the Master's TARDIS! I need to get Rose back, you stupid ship!" He stomped his good foot on the floor hard, causing the noise to echo about the console room of the ship. The TARDIS let out an annoyed groan and he patted the railing fondly, "Sorry... Just... I need to get Rose back, yeah? I didn't mean to hurt you."

The lights flashed one last time and the cloister bell stopped ringing along with the alarm, informing him that he was forgiven. The walls slowly started to repair themselves and he limped down the nearest corridor to the medical bay, injecting a purple liquid into his leg and smiling when he was immediately healed. "Alright," he clapped his hands together and rubbed them, "Let's find Rose, old girl. Can you do a scan while repairing or do we need to wait?"

When he returned to the console room a scan was already underway on the screen, the tiny green dot in the middle flickering and flickering over again. He watched it intently, hoping and praying to the stars that anything,_ anything_ would appear if it would help him find her. Then a red dot appeared in the very bottom left corner of the screen. "What's that dot? Is it the Master?"

After running a hand over his chin he said, "Connect the ships. Let me talk to him, can you? Video message him."

The hologram Rose appeared once again, wearing a different purple outfit though her expression and body position was the same, "I do not think that is a good idea."

"Video message the Master, I think it's a good idea," the Doctor said, glaring at the hologram. "It will help me find Rose."

Once the imaginary Rose disappeared the Time Lord turned his attention towards the screen, where a picture was beginning to flicker. It was the inside of a TARDIS, that much was obvious from first glance, only it was darker than the Doctor's and seemed smaller. A blonde man walked into the frame, his face thin and his eyes bored-looking. A creepy, large grin grew on his face when he looked into the screen. "Doctor! It has been too long, old friend."

"Master," the Doctor growled, wishing he could reach through the screen and rip the Master to shreds. "Where is Rose Tyler?"

"The earth girl?" the Master sneered, raising an eyebrow. "The one who was on board your TARDIS? Well you always did love your little companions, didn't you?"

"Give her back to me," he said, not paying any attention to the Master's words. "I want Rose Tyler back this instant, then we can talk out whatever it is you want from me."

The Master chuckled, "Oh, but that's just it, you see. If I give Rose Tyler back to you then I don't get what I want, so that's a bit inappropriate don't you think? And, just for the record, she's in very, very good care. A bit of screaming, but she's alright. Feisty, your companion is. Tried to bite my finger off on our first date."

He scoffed, "Date?"

"Mhmm," the Master hummed, turning his attention to his fingernails and looking at them curiously. "But anyways, I'll see you later, Doctor, alright? Kind of busy at the moment... A lot of people waiting outside my office that I need to attend to. That sort of thing."

"Wait, Master-"

"No time, adios!" The Master flicked off the video messaging and the Doctor groaned, throwing himself against the console.

He checked the radar again to see if the Master's TARDIS was still on it and, sure enough, he had left the area. "Is there any way we can track him down, old girl? Surely you can find his TARDIS."

The TARDIS hummed a negative reply and the Doctor frowned, "Well who can find him, then? Where do I need to go?" Sitting down on the jump-seat, he took his head in his hands and thought. "To find alien stuff... Where do I go?..."

His ship made an angry you're-so-stupid noise and he raised an eyebrow, "Where do I go? Oh! Torchwood!"

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry for this being late! I've been super busy lately! :(


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